GOP files slew of healthcare amendments to trade deal

"This latest attack underscores just how obsessed politicians like Sen. Hatch are when it comes to attacking women’s freedom and privacy," NARAL President Nancy Keenan said in a statement. "Not even a trade agreement is immune from Hatch’s relentless and mean-spirited anti-choice extremism.”

An amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley would sunset the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board — a cost-cutting panel that has emerged as the focal point of Republican attacks on the new healthcare law.

Other GOP amendments to the trade deal would address accountable care organizations, Medicare Advantage, home health care, Medicare and general implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

A spokesman for the committee's Republicans was not immediately available to comment on the process for offering and debating amendments to the trade agreement. The Finance Committee has scheduled a "mock markup" for 3 p.m.